Tracee Ellis Ross Opened the 2018 American Music Awards With an Amazing Dance Medley

Tracee Ellis Ross did such an incredible job of hosting the American Music Awards in 2017 that they asked her back for the 2018 show. And this time around she’s pulling out all the stops. On Tuesday evening, October 9, she opened the show at Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater with a high-energy dance number to a medley of hits—and Twitter was immediately obsessed.

To kick off the medley, Ross rapped along to Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow,” sporting a glamorous cape and baring her teeth to reveal a grill featuring diamonds spelling out her initials on her bottom teeth. When the music transitioned to Childish Gambino’s “This Is America,” however, she threw off the cape and was immediately flanked by a squad of backup dancers. That was followed by even more hits, including Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s “APESHIT,” Aretha Franklin’s “Respect,” Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk,” and Beyoncé’s “Run the World.”

After her performance, Marsai Martin and Miles Brown, who play Ross’s kids onscreen in Black-ish, gave her scores of seven and three out of 10, respectively. Twitter users, however, were much more impressed. Though some called her moves cheesy or momlike—if so, she’s definitely a cool mom—pretty much everyone agreed that it was an incredible opening number. If there’s an AMA for Best AMAs Host, we know exactly who‘s getting it at the 2019 show.